Who Will Be the Next Victim of the Grand Bounce? A nonpartisan, nonjudgmental look at the “Hair-Trigger” Form of Government

Friday, May 11, 2012

Wisconsin: Controversy over Walker statements for a "divide and conquer" strategy against unions

Lots of controversy over a new documentary "As Goes Janesville," with video of Governor Scott Walker describing a "divide and conquer" strategy to use against the unions. The conversation was in answer to a question by one of his supporters, billionaire Diane Hendricks if he could make Wisconsin a "completely red state, and work on these unions, and become a right-to-work" state.

"Well, we're going to start in a couple weeks with our budget adjustment bill," Walker responded. "The first step is we're going to deal with collective bargaining for all public employee unions, because you use divide and conquer. So for us the base we've got for that is the fact that we've got — budgetarily we can't afford not to. If we have collective bargaining agreements in place, there's no way not only the state but local governments can balance things out."

Note also:

Walker co-sponsored right-to-work legislation in 1993 as a freshman in the state Assembly, but he has declined to say whether he would sign or veto a right-to-work bill if the Legislature passed one. Right-to-work supporters believe it would give more freedom to workers and make it more attractive for companies to invest and hire employees. Opponents say it undermines unions and doesn't help the economy.